Monochrome RacingReview

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A dreary disappointment.

By Lucas M. Thomas

Monochrome Racing is the worst WiiWare I've seen in quite a while – and that took me a bit by surprise. Its premise seems solid enough, as you're in command of a colored car speeding through black-and-white landscapes and you need to ensure that your bright blues, reds or yellows don't drain away while you're drifting around the track. A neat idea – color equals the health of your car. I can get on board with that.

But the execution here is horrendous. The presentation's plagued with visual errors and spelling mistakes – giving you a clue to lower your expectations even before the first race begins – but then the races themselves are even more disappointing. The color gimmick never has a chance to shine, at all, because most races are completed in about 10 seconds.

Either because you blow up, or your opponents all blow up, or the control scheme screws with you, and you get scrolled off the screen, and then you blow up. I could play five different races in less than one minute in Monochrome Racing, because none of them ever seem to last long enough for someone to actually, legitimately win by crossing the finish line and earning the checkered flag.

There are lots of tracks to unlock, several extra cars and plenty of customization to be had in the game's garage interface. But the core gameplay is just so unsatisfying here that anything tacked on to it seems entirely inconsequential – you won't want to stick around long enough to care about winning access to hidden cars.